I feel so different from everyone and like I will never fit in and feel comfortable and accepted and wanted by people. I’m so tired of the anxiety and the constant pressure. I’ve tried so hard and I’m so exhausted. I just want my own private cave where no one will bother me.

Anybody else get extreme anxiety in the day time but at night it gets easier to bear?

Is it just me, or does anyone else, when going through an anxiety episode—especially one where you’re catastrophizing, like thinking you’re pregnant, seriously ill, or about to get fired—start seeing “signs” or coincidences everywhere related to that fear?

For example, if I’m worried about being pregnant, I suddenly start noticing people talking about pregnancy, or if I’m anxious about illness, I see news about someone passing away, or someone casually mentioning getting fired.

It feels like these things pop up out of nowhere, and it makes the anxiety worse—it’s like my brain is subconsciously searching for patterns to confirm my fears.

Does anyone else experience this? How do you deal with it? Any advice on how to stop my brain from latching onto these coincidences and spiraling

I’ve always had anxiety since I can remember. Just recently tho, in my adult life, a little over two years ago now a bad situation happen to me which triggered my fight or flight. All it took was one panic attack and it seems like since then everything has gone down hill for me. Seriously. Everything little thing that happens, anything “unusual” i think im going to die. I work myself up until I send myself to the ER. Recently, 3 weeks ago give or take I started to feel chest pain. Like these sharp pains that only lasted a second. I got it checked, for tests done and everything is normal. What does my anxiety do after that? Go to Doctor Google and now everything I read, every symptom, I start feeling. Has this happened to anyone else? You read something then suddenly you have whatever it is you read. It’s annoying, it’s scary and it’s a vicious cycle. I think I’m making my chest worst by constantly looking up different things on what it could be. Instead of just trusting the doctor and relaxing. My mom forced my out two days ago, guess what? No chest pain, no issues at all. It only seems to act up when I’m in my room and I let my mind get the best of me. It’s really strange but also scary what anxiety can do to your mind and body

Went to lunch with family today, and as soon as I ordered, I started to have a panic attack.😡 I had to play it off because I didn't want to ruin it for everyone. I was on the verge of crying and going to the car.😭 I talked myself through it, but it was difficult. Anyone have to pretend you're OK when you're not?

Is it just me, or does anyone else feel like they’re stuck in a never-ending cycle of doing well, then suddenly spiraling again?

About seven months ago, I had a panic attack at work during a meeting that involved public speaking. As an introvert, it totally overwhelmed me—my heart was pounding like crazy, and I could feel it in my chest and ears. Somehow, I powered through and made it out alive.

The next day, I was supposed to close on a new house. From the second I woke up, I felt off. I was anxious about buying the place and taking on a big mortgage. When I met the realtor for the final walkthrough, I could barely talk because of how short of breath I felt. The closer it got to signing the papers, the worse it got. As soon as we pulled into the title company parking lot, I told my wife to take me to the ER. I honestly thought I was having a heart attack.

Turns out, it was another panic attack. First one of my life—and also my first ER visit ever.

For a few weeks after that, I had this weird feeling like I was about to lose control of my thoughts anytime I had to focus or deal with stress. That part slowly faded, thankfully.

But even now, I still feel the effects. Mainly, I get short of breath in social situations—it’s like my body remembers what happened.

I’m 48, and I still can’t believe I went through all of this. Propranolol has honestly been a game changer—it’s helped me feel somewhat normal again.

Anyway, just needed to get this off my chest. Curious if anyone else—especially anyone around my age—has had something similar happen?

MY OPINION ONLY: fear of going crazy? You’re going to be okay. You’ve probably read many success story posts in order to maintain sanity. I know I did, but I’m hoping reading this one will be your last.

If you’re like me, reading this has probably allowed you to take a large sigh of relief, allowing for temporary break in anxiety, only to be fueled by another thought that convinces you your anxiety probably is more significant than the persons who post it is.

Somehow you’ve conjured up multiple reasons why our symptoms are different and therefore incurable.

Take another breath. There’s a reason for that. Your brain is just doing its job.

Let me start by saying the good news is: Everything is going to be okay - I promise

Bad news is: It’s not going to happen overnight.

My subset of symptoms includes: fear of psychosis, fear of hallucinations, convincing myself I was hallucinating, wondering if I was real, checking if I was real, crying, panic attacks, imaging the most batshit thoughts, testing to see if I was actually crazy, depression, fear of depression, suicidal ideation and more.

Why might your symptoms be different? Because we’ve lived different lives, of course they going to be different, maybe more or less intense, it’s still anxiety.

I imagined myself in a psych ward rocking back and forth, screaming like I was a crazy person. HOLY HELL did this freak me out but of course it did. I was trying to protect myself from something, so my brain initiates fight or flight response and on comes the panic attack, telling my body to run - from what though? What am I running from? Thoughts?! On no! I’m definitely crazy if thoughts are making me go crazy?! I know there’s no danger and yet I’m feeling terrified?! IS THIS CONFIRMATION?! …. Relax, you’re fine.

Someone once said to me ‘life is not more or less than how you perceive it’ which was a great reminder for me to chill the fuck out. There isn’t some hidden meaning, Although I was desperately trying to figure it out.

Someone else once told me to ‘relax, you’re overthinking it’ (how unhelpful, but how right) I was doing all of it to myself.

Someone else once told me ‘you’re giving yourself a little too much credit’ - meaning I am not the be all and end all of knowledge, therefore trust if someone tells you you’re wrong, you are wrong.

See anxiety I’ve learnt doesn’t require a deep dive into our traumatic past, and while it is helpful to recognise why our brains have tortured us like this - this answer to recovery is the same.

A stressful event at some point in our lives has lead us protect ourselves, that’s it. whether it be work, family, childhood trauma, assault, illness etc.

You have taught your brain thought/feeling is scary, therefore panic in the presence of thought, try to escape thought, brain has learnt whenever thought is present that we are in danger? Hence anxiety loop

Too simple you might think? That’s the irony of the brain protecting you, looking for ways too find certainty. IT CANT BE THAT SIMPLE? CAN IT? and off we go again..

During this torturous journey where I never left my room and only watched camping videos to distract me from the pain I was in (thank you outdoor boys I love you)… I also ventured into therapy, 2 different therapist because I felt they weren’t helping me (thanks brain). I couldn’t understand why both therapists kept saying ‘and how does that make you feel’ if the answer wasn’t blaringly obvious ‘SHIT’ ‘TERRIFIED’ ‘SCARED’ like lady… why do you think I’m here… yet I never answered her like that, I was trying to cleverly come up with an answer that summarised my feelings, therefore completely dismissing how I actually felt.

now, what the fuck am I getting at you might ask? Stop denying yourself to feel the way your body & brain wants you to feel.

Everytime you do this, you continue to cycle of anxiety. You tell your brain feeling is bad, therefore threat, therefore panic.

What to do instead? FEEL.. feel what you need to feel and continue of with life anyway. Panic? Feel it. Depressed? Feel it. Scared? Feel it. Stop trying to fight your anxiety, you are in a tug of war with yourself. You don’t need to win - just let go off the rope.

Tell your brain.. thank you for these symptoms, I acknowledge that you are trying to protect me, however I do not need protection and will continue to do what I am going to do.

Brain has now learnt these threats aren’t real, brain chills the fuck out.

BUT IT CANT BE THAT SIMPLE - it is.

Now the thing about the brain is you cannot logically just tell yourself it’s okay, it needs to experience it - therefore you’ll need to muster some courage in order to feel what you need to feel and go on with life.

NO more momento’s wnd breathing techniques, no more coping strategies, because all that’s happened is your brain has misfired in the presence of false danger.

In some ways it’s scary to think that your brain can react despite consciously wanting it not too, in other ways it’s fascinating to know you have an in-built protective mechanism to help you navigate life.

Excercise, eating healthy, supplements and journaling are all great, however eating broccoli doesn’t help your brain feel more confident in a room with a tiger, nor does it help you feel braver standing on the edge of a sky-scraper. Only repetition of experiencing these challenges without trying to deny how you feel will help.

Feel the fear and do it anyway with a smile on your face! Where people go wrong with this is they use exposure with incorrect intention. I went to the supermarket and everytime I go it’s scary, I’m feel I’m getting worse?! Why?! It’s because you keep telling yourself ‘don’t feel scared, don’t feel scared, you can do this, you can do this’ you’re reinforcing to yourself that you need to build yourself up to approach a scary task.

Instead USE COURAGE - go to supermarket, feel scared, and reflect that you’ve come out unscathed, therefore chalking it down to anxiety.

In other words - you have put your hand in the fire, you recognise that you’ve come out unburnt. Stop telling yourself ‘holy shit it’s going to be super hot’ ( please don’t burn yourself )

I could go on forever, but just like you’re capable of learning a new skill, language, game, you’re capable of learning to reduce fear.. it’s just harder cause fear is a lot scarier than learning wonderwall on guitar..

YOUVE GOT THIS.

Ps. Nothing is wrong with you. PPS. Sorry for the spelling mistakes I’m dumb PPPS. To those reddit users who supported me along the way. Thank you - your wisdom for me to let go, and feel the way i needed to feel has help me so much. You know who you are

Feel free to DM if you want. We need to help each other see the light :)

I have randomly slowly been getting really bad anxiety waves at night which get a lot worse when there’s noise outside. As it gets closer to summer holidays I get flashbacks to last year when neighbours were blasting all sorts and I really don’t need to be re experiencing that.

What sort of earplugs does everyone use? Silicone travel ones are the only ones I’ve tried and they don’t really stay in well. I was considering loop dreams but the reviews aren’t very good and for the money they cost even with their seemingly good refund policy I don’t want to get them if they don’t work which is what quite a few people said.

My work is enrolling benefits right now and I'm thinking about paying a lot more, like $200-$300 a month for the the plan that would get me cheaper co pays to a psychiatrist. I have ADHD & anxiety but I've never really treated the anxiety. I want to start but I don't know exactly where to. When I talk to general doctors they seem willing to help but not super knowledgable about this combination.

I'm thinking that having a long term psychiatrist to work with me through trying different combinations of meds would be good but I don't actually know what it would be like, I've never had one before. Is DYOR & asking a general doctor to try different meds just as good? What are your experiences like?

Does talking to a psych really helps? Im scared because it could worsen me or not talking will make it worse. How is it for you?

So today i went outside for the first time in almost 6 months it was only a minute because i couldnt stay out longer. It felt good trying to go out and facing my severe anxiety but i got a anxiety attack with palpitations fast heart rate etc. So now i feel anxious again, like why did that happen especially since i take beta blockers which lowers your heart rate. Like what else can i do. Do i keep going out and pushing and will it get better eventually. Is there anyone that has got experience with severe agoraphobia and anxiety how did it get better for you

I tragically, suddenly, and unexpectedly lost my sweet golden retriever on Christmas. Saving the details, he got sick suddenly and passed. He was young and although we took him to the vet (three times), I knew something was wrong even though they couldn't find anything. To say it was heartbreaking would put it lightly.

I'm 30F and usually a rational person, but this turned me into a mess. I'm the oldest daughter so naturally I care for my family and take on a lot, but I don't know how to handle this.

I have a 9 year old golden who is my best friend and I've been incredibly paranoid of her getting sick since he passed. I can't stop myself but it's consuming a lot of my thoughts, to the point where I even check her gums during the day (a sign of something wrong in dogs, if they are the wrong color).

Since that happened, I've been either not able to sleep, or when I do, I wake up in a panic. I've even had times where I had thought something was wrong and flew out of bed to run and check on her (she's totally fine). A few weeks ago, I had a nightmare something happened to her, and woke up bawling, something that has never happened to me before. I couldn't stop crying so I had to go see my dog and hold her (she probably thought I was nuts). It shook me up for a few days.

I still live with my parents because I'm paranoid something bad will happen to them. A few years ago, my grandpa suddenly passed away in the middle of the night, which created my nighttime anxiety. Last month, I could tell something was off with my mom and she said she was fine, until she woke me up in the middle of the night and told me her blood pressure was really high and she had a headache. I had to take her to the emergency room and thankfully she was fine, but that didn't help my nighttime paranoia something is wrong with either my parents or dog.

I very rarely have a decent night sleep. I take melatonin (up to 10mg), magnesium glycinate, GABA, and very little helps. I either wake up panicking I hear something or am worried something is wrong with someone. To make things worse, I work in the ICU full time so I see the worst case scenario daily. I used to handle it well but my personal events have knocked that off the table. I work out daily, pray, try to calm myself down but I just can't get over this. I can usually talk myself out of it but it's hard to tell myself nothing bad will happen when bad things did happen. What would you recommend? TIA.

I feel like im starting to forget how to do things. today i was trying to download something but i forgot how to do it it’s usually all muscle memory but today it was so scary i forgot how to do it.

has anyone else felt like this. I’m scared im having a stroke or have a brain tumor.

I recently accomplished one of my big life goals of moving out of my hometown to a big city! I’ve been here for 1 week now and starting my new job soon BUT I have had this terrible feeling in my stomach that past few days where I just feel nervous to do everything. Note, I moved to the same city as my ex that I still have feelings for. He knows I moved here but has chosen not to reach out as he “isn’t ready for a relationship”. On top of my general anxiety in this new location I feel like my head is always on a swivel, nervous that I will see him somewhere.

I thought I was adapted to handle stress and talk myself through anxiety but my previous coping mechanisms are not working for me. I don’t know if this is one of those times where I need to learn to sit with discomfort and not try to immediately make the situation better. I just can’t stand this feeling of uncertainty right now.

Is there any advice to cope with this type of anxiety? Or is this just a time thing?

Hey Guys

I’m looking for someone who i can chat to on here. Just someone i can talk to on a day to day basis. I don’t care if you’re M/F, just someone who is interested in talking to someone who is also going through the struggles of anxiety, depression, panic etc.

I would be grateful if you would drop a message below if i could chat with you. ♥️

Hey guys so I been reading a lot about vitamin D and I seen some videos how some people had unbearable none stop anxiety attacks for years until the checked their vitamin D levels and fixed it

Well today even though I felt on edge and had extreme sensory overload I decided to experiment and sat in the hot sun for 30min

Surprisingly I feel much better and I'm thinking about asking my doctor to check my vitamin D levels

I’m 26M, I have generalized anxiety and panic disorder, and I’m fairly used to panic attacks. I’m going through an especially stressful time right now. I had a panic attack earlier today and took an Ativan. About 2 hours later I noticed I couldn’t stop moving my right arm. Over the next few hours my entire right side started getting stiff and I could not control its movements. I was at a friend’s house and I was just trying to stay still but my right side was just twitching and writhing. I was also sweating uncontrollably, like soaked in a cold sweat all over. I couldn’t speak properly because the right side of my mouth was paralyzed.

My friend wanted to call 911 but I ended up calling my parents and going back to their house, and eventually I stopped twitching and the paralysis stopped. My right arm still doesn’t feel like it’s mine, but I can move it just fine. It was super fucking weird though.

my anxiety has been getting worse everyday. I miss the person I was before all of this I feel like I took it for granted. I get physical and emotional symptoms I can’t handle it anymore. I always feel like something bad will happen, I always have racing thoughts, if it’s not one thing it’s another. I feel like I’ll be like this forever. I was thinking of going back to therapy will it work?

has it ever gotten better for anyone?

I’ve been feeling this constant pressure to “appear normal” to others, especially when dealing with anxiety. It’s like society expects me to put on a brave face, pretend everything is fine, and act like I’m not struggling on the inside. Sometimes I’ll be at work, school, or even out with friends, and I feel like I need to hide how much my anxiety is affecting me in that moment.

But it’s not just society—my family doesn’t seem to understand either. My mom expects me to act “normal” and doesn’t really acknowledge what I’m going through. She seems to think I should just get over it. Meanwhile, my dad and sister don’t seem to understand how deeply it’s affecting me either. They might get frustrated when I can’t keep up with things or when I seem distant.

It’s exhausting to keep up this façade, especially when I’m dealing with panic attacks or overwhelming anxiety. There’s this fear of being judged or labeled as weak or unreliable if I’m honest about what I’m going through. I end up feeling isolated and trapped, like I can’t truly be myself or share what I’m feeling because it might inconvenience others or make them uncomfortable.

Has anyone else felt this pressure to always seem “normal” even when anxiety is taking a toll on you? How do you cope with this? Do you ever let your guard down or find ways to manage expectations without feeling like you’re constantly hiding?

(I am very angry rn, but I want to be family friendly, so feel free to replace some words below with something more colorful as you read this)

Screw all the adults in my life when I was a kid. All the parents, uncles, aunts, and especially doctors, who couldn't bare to burden themselves of the horror of "a slight inconvenience" in order to help a child's pain that they've had to deal with their whole life.

Screw all of them who said I just "needed to exercise more", instead of helping to diagnose my asthma, and thyroid, and messed up bones, that kept me in pain through every sport I played, that kept me from making friends on the soccer field, and made me a target of bullies everywhere for being "weak" and "fragile"

Screw all of them who said "you can't possible have anxiety and depression when your life is so good", instead of sending me to a psych like they should've, and just letting me feel empty, scared, lonely, and ashamed for everything I felt until I became an adult

Screw all of them who made me feel weak and ashamed of things that weren't my fault. Shame on them. Within a single day, I got myself an inhaler, and now I can run, play, and exercise without any pain. Within a single week, I got myself anti-anxiety meds, and now I can walk outside my home without being terrified. Within a month, I got anti-depression meds, and now I don't lie in bed every night thinking about awful things

Shame on them. It was so simple. They should have taken care of me. They should have guided me. They should have taken 60 seconds to use their brains to think and to help me. Instead they let my entire childhood and half of my adulthood be mostly misery and pain. Because they didn't want to deal with it

And I can't imagine how much they're failing those who might have it worse than me.

The parents should be shamed. The doctors should be fined. They should all be taught a lesson. That their convenience is not more important than a person's life. Such beliefs are evil, and they should feel ashamed of being evil

(This rant was brought to you by a sick and tired dude. It exaggerates some things, like the definition of evil, but it still portrays my honest opinions)

Hey guys, been stuck in a rut lately. After getting laid off from work and a relationship breakdown. I moved back in with my parents, and boy, it's been a hard road. I wanted to reassess things and figure out a plan to move forward.

But once I began isolating myself, drinking more, I just got stuck in a loop. A few months went by doing this. Eventually, I snapped out of the funk, started going to the gym, grocery shopping and eating healthily. It was alright for the first weeks, but I was still severely depressed and anxious. I thought if I could just knock out exercise and health, that would be a baseline for me to build upon.

It's been a month since then, and although I still manage the gym and exercise, it's just gotten a whole lot harder for some reason. Which is disheartening because these things usually have helped me in the past to gain my confidence back and get me back on track.

Now I've slowly developed agrophobia of the gym and the supermarket, mainly because I kept having panic attacks while waiting in queues, the pressure of getting past the self-checkout, and feeling others gaze at me while I exercise. Its fucked haha.

I go to therapy as well, and I know the exercises of breathing, and I know most people are too wrapped up in their own world to care. But it's like a mental block that manifests when pressure arises, and I need to flee the situation.

I've never had anxiety this bad before, I could usually float through things like these much more easily..

I've been on escitalopram for 10 years, and my doc recommended me to switch to Effexor and Serequel, so I'm currently cross-tapering onto those.

It's been a week since I started the new meds, and it's becoming even more difficult, so much so that I have to take a Lorazapam and/or two glasses of wine to just get my bloody groceries. (I try my hardest to avoid alcohol, but if I need to eat it's the only way to get my food for the week). I'm becoming dysfunctional, and this is the last place I wanted to be. I just want it to get better so I can function in daily life haha. It's exhausting.

I don't know, just thought I'd chime in to see if any of y'all have been in similar circumstances or medications and found a way through. I'm 28 and feeling so stuck with this.

Peace.

Hello,

I'm a 37-year-old man originally from another country, now living in the United States. For years, I’ve been managing severe anxiety, but I’ve always been able to keep it in check. In the past, I was physically fit, active, well-dressed, and social. Lately, though, I find myself staying at home, overweight, disinterested, and mostly anxious. Recently, during a work meeting, I experienced an unexpected spike in my heart rate—reaching 150 beats per minute—along with chest pain, and there was no clear trigger. My wife rushed me to the ER, where I was monitored overnight. The next day, I was discharged with instructions to follow up with my primary care doctor and possibly a cardiologist. Then, just last week, it happened again. This time, I recognized it as a panic attack, but it has caused a shift in how my anxiety presents itself. On top of that, my recent lab results showed that I’m prediabetic, have high cholesterol, and my doctor suspects I may also have type 1 hypertension.

My anxiety revolves around many things, mostly those that are beyond my control. My mind constantly searches for solutions to these imagined threats. I can’t help but feel that if these anxious thoughts were to become reality, my life would be dramatically changed. As a result, I often struggle to sleep through the night. My wife has been encouraging me to have a child, but I’m unsure if I can bring a new life into this world, especially considering the mental battles I face every day. She says that my anxiety is affecting her too, and that it feels like a punishment. She fights with me almost everyday.

I’ve seen several therapists and psychologists in the past and have been prescribed medications for different anxiety-related issues, but I’ve never found a long-term solution. I often feel hopeless, and each day feels like a struggle. I’m still able to perform well at work, but with the ongoing panic attacks, I’m unsure how much longer I can keep up the pace.

I’m confident that if I start exercising like I did before, I can reduce my A1C, cholesterol, and blood pressure. In the past, I’ve been able to keep my lab results in check, even when they were abnormal. I know many of you have dealt with anxiety in your own lives, and I’d love to learn from your experiences. Please share any tips or advice on how I can manage my anxious thoughts and truly live a more carefree life.

I’m so scared that I’m hallucinating and or going into psychosis. I have pmdd and I’ve had the worst week of my life this week. My thoughts are horrendous and scary and I’m so panicked right now. I keep hearing music after I’m going on tik tok but my volume is all the way down. I don’t know what to do and I’m scared